Granola Bars

I had a number of requests for the recipe for the granola bars we made yesterday so I will attempt to write it here for you.  The original recipe is from The Freezer Cooking Manual which actually lists it out in number of batches.  I did approximately a 2 batch, but it all fit into one pan and are thick like a “bar” not a store bought granola bar.  I also improvised a LOT so below is with my improvisations, but you can always borrow the book from me to see the specifics.

The book is great because it lists the ingredients in the order that you should add them!  This says its for 32 bars, but I put it in one cake pan.

Vegetable Oil     2/3 C

Brown Sugar     1 1/2 C (doesn’t say to pack or not so I didn’t and it was plenty)

Honey               1/4 C (I did NOT measure this, just eye balled it as I poured)

Vanilla                2 t.

Eggs                  4

Flour                  2 C (I used whole wheat but book says white is fine)

Cinnamon           2 t.

Baking powder    1 t.

Salt                     1/2 t (I used kosher)

Oats                   3 1/2-4 C (ummm, not quite sure I just dumped it in)

Accessories         2 C  (I used raisins, cranberries, chopped pecans, slivered almonds

                                   flax seeds, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and m&m’s)

 

Put in sprayed cake pan and bake at 350 for 25 min.  Says do 300 for 50 min to make them crunchy but either way to trust the timer and take out on time.

The original recipe calls for adding 4C rice krispies cereal in addition to the oats, I think this is why mine are more like cookies than bars and only made one batch vs two ;)  I also only put the pb ones on one side of the pan and chocolate on the other side so we have two different types of bars. Made this before with sunflower seeds and more nuts as well.  I think it would be good with more fruit pieces.  Next time I will also put in finely grated carrots.